They say cooking is like love — to be entered into with abandon or not at all. From time immemorial, the most adventurous among us have relished the exotic flavors of East and West.
In Greek mythology, the Immortals feasted on nectar and ambrosia every morning. With the dawn of each new day, they renewed their eternal life force by indulging in these miraculous foods.
Legend has it that they had to partake daily — or risk the loss of their immortal powers.
In Hindu mythology, the gods ingestedamrita, a similar immortality-conferring nectar. Meanwhile, in Taoist mythology, the gods feasted onpantao(the peach of immortality) every 3,000 years.
Today, we take our cues from both legend and tradition. From the azure shores of Japan to the earthen sultriness of South Africa's sandstone cliffs, we feast on the foods that have sustained our forefathers since the dawn of time.
As the new year approaches, there's no crystal ball to offer us a glimpse of what's to come. But, the general consensus is that 2024 may well be another watershed year for creative diets. Below, we reveal 10 diet trends that will change how we eat as we embrace new culinary opportunities.
At-Home Dining
In the era of lockdowns, at-home dining grew by leaps and bounds. Pre-COVID-19, we may have feasted our eyes on the culinary creations of famous TV chefs, but new cultural shifts have created an abiding thirst for home-cooked fare.
At the height of the crisis, many ordered takeout to support local eateries. However, as time progressed, self-described food connoisseurs took to prowling the Internet for alternatives.
Sure, restaurants may be in a state of flux, rallying for a rebirth in the new year. But, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Savvy entrepreneurs are channeling the post-World War II allure of restaurant dining to transform at-home meals all across the globe.
During WWII, our parents subsisted on Spam, Victory Garden veggies, and lard-infused War Cake. If you're tired of canned food, frozen dinners, and day-old congealed pizza, restaurant delivery kits may be up your alley.
With at-home meal kits, the sky's the limit for every culinary taste. If you're into conventional meat-heavy meals, tryOmaha Steaks. For vegans,Purple Carrot offers hearty 100% vegan dishes like kimchi tofu stew with bok choy & sticky rice, kale & tempeh “chorizo” scramble, and tofu palak paneer with basmati brown rice & mango chutney.
You can order dinners for two or four every week. Purple Carrot also delivers breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.
Not necessarily a vegan but appreciate 100% plant-based meals? TryVeestro, which offers the choice of chef-curated meals, ala carte options, or a weight loss menu. High-protein and gluten-free options are also available.
Want to try 10 chef-curated meals to start? You'll get favorites such as red curry with tofu, soba noodles in peanut sauce, Thai chick'n stew, and pasta Bolognese.
If budget is an issue, you'll want to check out Dinnerly. Each meal costs just $4.69 per serving. From Tex-Mex cheeseburgers to shrimp tempura & broccoli, you'll have a smorgasbord of delicacies at your disposal.
Families with young children aren't left out, either. Yumble offers ready-made meals the youngest, pickiest eaters will love. From cheesy broccoli & meatballs to chicken marinara & Alfredo, the kid-friendly fare will soothe parental stresses amidst prolonged lockdowns.
Immune-Boosting Low-Carb Diet
Although health experts say that diet won't protect you from new COVID variants, they still recommend an immune-boosting diet as one of the ways to reduce your risk of viral infections. But, what does an immune-boosting COVID-busting diet look like?
First, it's filled with foods that are rich in Vitamins A, C, & D plus zinc and iron. You'll want to load up on organic meats, cruciferous vegetables, berries, and nuts.
In addition, you'll want to drink plenty of water (8-10 glasses a day is ideal), reduce your consumption of refined carbs & sugar-laden foods, and avoid ultra-processed foods.
According to a2022 study involving 41,012 participants from the U.K. Biobank, ultra-processed foods can make you more susceptible to COVID. Higher consumption of such foods can also increase risks ofovarian, brain, and breast cancer-associated mortality.
The pandemic has precipitated the publication of many immune-boosting books. Among them isImmunity Hi, Virus Bye-Bye: Proven Strategies to Improve Your Immune System During Pandemic Times by Jorg Wijnen. The author offers diet and exercise advice to maximize one's immune health.
The keto, ketovore, and carnivore diets are all low-carb, high-fat eating regimes. The idea is to bypass glucose and use good fats to fuel the body’s need for energy.
So, instead of binging on donuts, cakes, bread, pasta, and pies, you’ll choose lean meats, wild-caught fish, leafy greens, and eggs. You’ll also add a range of healthy fats like avocado oil, coconut oil, ghee, grass-fed butter, and cheese.
No time to delve into all the intricacies of a low-carb diet? Check outOptavia, a low-carb immune-boosting diet touted by TV’s Cake Boss as the key to his weight loss success. Optavia’s lean-and-mean meals focus on:
lean protein (like chicken, salmon, tofu)
non-starchy vegetables (like cauliflower, collard greens, and broccoli)
healthy fats (like avocado, eggs, nuts)
The bulk of Optavia’s meal kits include what are called “fueling” items. According toCNET, these are bars, brownie & pancake mixes, snacks, cereals, pasta, pudding, and soups. Each product is high in vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and protein. Finally, all Optavia “fueling” items are free from any artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners.
Plant-Based Intermittent Fasting Diet
Quick: what do Franz Kafka, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, George Bernard Shaw, and Leo Tolstoy have in common?
If you answered “they were all writers,” pat yourself on the back. Give yourself an extra pat on the back if you also answered “they were all vegetarians.”
In our era of intuitive eating, guilty pleasures are not only permitted but championed. We predict that 2024 will see consumers embracing plant-based eating without incurring the soul-shattering judgment of dogmatic food philosophers. This live-and-let-live mentality may well be the best thing to come out of a disastrous Year of the Rat (2020).
Plant-based adherents will heap their plates with zucchini spaghetti, soy and honey-infused portobello steaks, and goat cheese salads. They will indulge in protein-rich, exotic flavors with aplomb — while maintaining healthyBMIs (body mass indexes).
The secret isintermittent fasting: only eating within aneight-hour window (say from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm) and then fasting for the other 16 hours.
From East to West, plant-based eating will flourish in 2024. If you're in Australia, drop in onMatthew Kenney's Alibi, and indulge in a plant-based high tea worthy of kings.
Kenney's restaurant is located in Sydney's upscale Ovolo Woolloomooloo Hotel. You'll feast on chick’n and mushroom Vol au Vent, walnut terrine, lychee & coconut cream with guava and mint compote, and raspberry & cream chocolate buns. Don’t live in Australia? Try making his mouth-watering signaturevegan lasagna at home.
On the way West, stop in for a bite atSingapore's Original Sin, which features plant-based Mediterranean-Italian dishes. Build your own pizza or order a tantalizing spanakopita, infused with feta, spinach, ricotta and served with grilled portobello and vegetable ratatouille.
If you enjoyed Kenney's offerings, you may want to sample his plant-based menu in Venice, California, as well. For East Coast American fare, head toElizabeth's Gone Raw in Washington, D.C.
You'll feast on both cooked and raw gourmet plant dishes, such as faux shrimp dumplings, parmesan-infused potato gratin, celeriac croquettes, and smoked yellow peppers stuffed with faux chorizo.
Don't live near any of these restaurants? If so, check out Miyoko Schinner'sThe Vegan Meat Cookbook: Meatless Favorites. Made with Plants. Schinner's book features 100 recipes with vegan meats and cheeses.
For the adventurous, there are 28 recipes for making vegan meats from scratch, such as King Trumpet Mushroom Bacon and the cheeky UnTurkey.
Flexitarian Diet
The Flexitarian Diet is one of our favorite earth-friendly diets. In case you're wondering, the word “flexitarian” is an amalgamation of “flexible” and “vegetarian.” Flexitarians eat mainly plant-based foods but don't have any problems feasting on a succulent steak on occasion.
According to the U.S. News & World Report, the Flexitarian Diet ranks #4 in Best Weight-Loss Diets and #6 in Best Heart-Healthy Diets.
Flexitarians may be more mainstream than we realize. According to Nielsen, 98% of shoppers who purchase alternative meat products also buy real meat. See — you're already a flexitarian.
In 2019, GrubHub reported that seven of its top orders comprised vegetarian-friendly dishes. Foods like vegan pad Thai, portobello empanadas, and cauliflower pizza shared the spotlight with miso pork ramen and chicken burgers. Meanwhile,plant-based sausage wraps had a strong showing in 2021, with a whopping 549% increase in GrubHub orders.
Climatarian-Type Sustainable Diet
The climatarian diet is the quintessential eco-friendly diet. If you're worried about your carbon footprint, this is the diet for you.
The diet is based on the zero-waste mentality and circular economy, where the goal is to reduce food waste, live sustainably, and reduce the environmental impact of agriculture.
In case you were wondering, yes — there's such a thing as a 30-day zero waste challenge. The climatarian world features its own host of celebrities.
Bea Johnson, whom the New York Times dubs the queen of waste-free living, is the creator of theZero-Waste Home blog and author of Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste.
In her book, Johnson catalogs her five-pronged approach to a zero-waste life: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Rot.
Meanwhile, Anne Marie Bonneau, theZero-Waste Chef, purports to cook without waste. Her website is filled with zero-waste recipes and lifestyle tips.
The upcycle and zero-waste trend is also bringing new foods like cascara, okara, and aquafaba to the forefront of public attention.
Cascara is a by-product of coffee bean processing. One enterprising company, Olam Coffee, is already using this mysterious-sounding pulp to create a range of superfoods for the functional foods industry.
Rumored to contain more antioxidants than acai and pomegranate, cascara may just be the zero-waste star of 2024. In early 2020, Starbucks premiered its first-ever coconut milk latte topped with cascara sugar, an intriguing blend of cascara extract and cane sugar.
So, look out for cascara smoothies and desserts — the zero-waste lifestyle is anything but a penitential ode to self-denial.
If you're the adventurous sort, check out okara flour, a fiber-rich,100% gluten-free alternative to white flour.
Okara is a by-product of soybean processing and has been used in traditional recipes in Japan and China for centuries. In the 1990s, okara saw a rise in popularity in the West.
Meanwhile, aquafaba, the leftover liquid from chickpeas, can be used to make surprisingly delicious meringues, brownies, fudge, buttercream icing, and even vegan strawberry ice cream.
Interestingly enough, aquafaba was discovered by a millennial Joël Roessel, who was 34 at the time of his food epiphany. The actual term “aquafaba,” however, was coined by Goose Wohlt, an American software engineer.
Essential Oils Diet
This diet was popularized by Eric and Sabrina Ann Zielinski in their bookThe Essential Oils Diet: Lose Weight and Transform Your Health with the Power of Essential Oils and Bioactive Foods.
The two tout an evidence-based diet program that promotes gut health, reduces inflammation, and facilitates healthy weight loss.
Both Zielinskis explain that the essential oils diet isn't a magic cure-all for cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. Instead, it's a dietary approach that focuses on enhancing our body's natural ability to heal itself.
In other words, indulging in 2AM binges of strawberry milkshakes, chocolate cream pie, and buttermilk-infused fried chicken is a no-no if you're rooting for a healthier lifestyle.
In many ways, this diet mimics the trend of intuitive eating, which emphasizes self-acceptance, moderation, and respect for the body. A rising star in the essential oils diet is copaiba oil, said to contain anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, and analgesic (pain relief) properties.
Postbiotic and FODMAP-Based Diet
Postbiotics is the result of fermentation or probiotic action in the gut. Essentially, probiotics are gut bacteria that produce postbiotics as a result of fermentation. To facilitate the fermentation process, probiotics feed on prebiotics — the result is postbiotics.
Why is gut health important? Poor intestinal flora can lead to health conditions such as neurocognitive disorders (Alzheimer's and dementia), cancer, CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), ulcerative colitis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), and IBD (inflammatory bowel disease).
AFODMAP-based diet, for example, is anti-inflammatory and may offer relief for those with SIBO and IBD symptoms like cramping, bloating, and extreme flatulence.
A postbiotic food that's slated to take off is EpiCor, a byproduct of processing baker's yeast; it's said to contain digestive, immune, and respiratory health benefits.
The interest in gut health has also precipitated the publication of books on boosting microbiome defenses with natural foods and simple lifestyle hacks.
They includeGut Health Hacks: 200 Ways to Balance Your Gut Microbiome andThe Complete LOW FODMAP Diet Cookbook : A 7-Days Stress Free Meal Plan to Relieve IBS Systems(2023).
Local Food Economy
In light of COVID-19, more Americans are looking to their local food economies for sustenance. In fact, eating locally means less exposure to foodborne contamination. In August 2020, the USDA announced that it would help bolster local and regional food ecosystems in response to COVID-19.
Today, local food brands likeForager andGotham Greens facilitate a mutually beneficial relationship between local farmers and communities across the United States.
Forager, for example, boasts a community of 300+ ranchers, farmers, and local food producers. Meanwhile, Gotham Greens operates a network of greenhouses in the Northeast, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Mountain regions. Their climate-controlled greenhouses are wind and solar-powered.
Meanwhile, Gotham Greens provides local access to the freshest produce on the planet. Use the store locator to find a Gotham Greens provider near you. We're betting that 2024 will see a surge in local food economies all across the fruited plain.
Sirtfood Diet
This diet activates what is called “sirtuins,” a group of proteins with the power to prevent cell decay in the body. Adherents say that the Sirtfood Diet is particularly useful for burning fat and building muscle. Its key attractions are dark chocolate and red wine, both said to be high in sirtuins.
This is purportedly the diet that Adele used to lose a whopping 100 pounds. Although the jury is still out on whether that's a good thing, the Sirtfood Diet is certainly gaining a growing share of adherents around the globe.
Foods rich in sirtuins include kale, parsley, turmeric, apples, citrus fruits, and blueberries. Still, if you're looking for sustained weight loss but suffer from underlying conditions such as diabetes, the punishing Sirtfood Diet may not be your best bet.
MIND Diet
The MIND Diet is a combination of the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and Mediterranean Diets. MIND stands for the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.
While both the Mediterranean and DASH diets emphasize healthy eating, the MIND diet is specifically designed to reduce or slow cognitive decline.
Some people call the MIND diet the “anti-Alzheimer's” diet. Unlike its cousins, the diet emphasizes the ingestion of berries, green leafy vegetables, and fish. The key is to fortify the brain against degenerative decay.
According to the WHO(World Health Organization), 50 million people suffer from dementia around the world, and 10 million new cases emerge each year. Studies show that the MIND diet can reduce the risk of dementia by up to 53%.
So, there you have it. Trends may come and go, but food is the great equalizer and the basic language of our humanity. So, as we say goodbye to 2023, let’s roll out the red carpet for 2024, where a world of opportunity awaits the discerning foodie in you.
Written by:
Shireen Stephenson
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